Men's Journal Grilling Awards: We Tested and Reviewed the Best Grills of 2024

Spring is when grilling takes off in earnest across America. As the days lengthen and weather warms, the sound of meat sizzling on hot grill grates becomes summer's soundtrack. And the smell of charcoal or pellet smoke drifting over fence lines? It's sweeter than any cologne. For barbecue diehards, the shift in season doesn't mean much. For them, grilling and smoking is an all-year affair. No matter your devotion to grilled meat and veggies, the one constant denominator is we're all in pursuit of the best grills and techniques.

That’s where the 2024 Men’s Journal’s Grilling Awards come into play. We highlighted the best grills in major categories—gas, charcoal, pellet, portable, outdoor griddle, and smoker—plus pizza oven and grill tools for good measure. Along with sharing our top picks with full reviews of each category winner, we also awarded superlatives in each, highlighting what and who they're best suited for.

We'd be remiss to forget the star of most grilling sessions: the best cuts of steak and how to grill them to perfection, no matter which method you choose.

No matter your preference or culinary aspirations, there's a grill or barbecue option to suit your style. Whether you're drawn to the simplicity of gas, the primal allure of charcoal, or the appealing aroma of wood smoke, grilling is easy to learn but takes time to master. Behold, the best grills of 2024.

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Best Smokers of 2024

Not all smokers are created equal, and our rundown of the best smokers cherry-picks top-of-the-line machines for cooking low and slow. Oklahoma Joe's Bronco Drum Smoker wins our top spot. It's a classic drum-style smoker with welcome features like a heavy-gauge steel construction, unique air management system, and a sealed lid—plus it's a bargain.

Best Gas Grills of 2024

If you live in the real world where you have to get dinner on the table between soccer practice and homework, or need to cook 12 burgers on the fly because a bunch of friends showed up for the game and stayed for dinner, gas grills are for you. Our favorite is Char-Broil Commercial Series 4 Burner, which offers a high-quality build, easy-start ignition, high heat levels, modular accessories, and quick cleanup. Other options on our list of the best charcoal grills include portable grills and stylish cookers.

How to Grill a Steak

Chef Curtis Stone is brilliant at demystifying grilling. His hybrid butcher shop/fine dining restaurant, Gwen, which earned a Michelin Guide star, hand cuts some of the choicest grass-fed steaks sourced from premium farms. We got his hot take on how to grill a steak. In particular, the perfect porterhouse, a cut of beef that presents its own set of challenges.

Best Outdoor Griddles of 2024

Flat-tops are having a moment and finding their place next to traditional grills in backyard patios across the nation. The overall best outdoor griddle from our testing is the new Camp Chef Gridiron 36. It has a seasoned top, clever grease management, notches on the cooktop sides to hold tools, and a hinged cover to trap heat and protect the griddle. Read our full Camp Chef Gridiron 36 review.

Best Pellet Grills of 2024

In our roundup of the best pellet grills, we broke them down by type and highlighted their features to help you understand the marketplace a bit better. Our pick for the most covetable is Traeger Ironwood, a sophisticated and versatile grill built to smoke and roast for years—if not decades—to come. Read our full Traeger Ironwood review.

Best Pizza Ovens of 2024

Our best pizza ovens lineup is dedicated to nightly dough-slingers and weekend entertainers who want to expand their outdoor kitchen. The best outdoor pizza oven is Ooni Karu 16. Though pricey, it provides consistent, even cooking and fuel flexibility in a thoughtfully designed package that'll keep you churning out wow-worthy pies all summer long. Read our full Ooni Karu 16 review.

Best Portable Grills of 2024

We sifted through the glut of portable grills to find the few that are sturdy, easy to transport, and durable for our best portable grill showdown. PKGo Hibachi is the most elite portable grill. It's totable, but big enough to offer dual heat zones, and has a locking cover that makes it easy to travel with. Bonus: It can be used as a cutting board and tray.

Best Charcoal Grills of 2024

Our lineup of the best charcoal grills begins with Kamado Joe Konnected Joe, the best overall. Equipped with a ceramic, thermal-regulating shell and a built-in automatic electric heating element that ignites the charcoal, this refined kamado-style cooker includes an internal fan to regulate temperature, so your smoky grilling session is hassle-free and perfect every time. Read our full Kamado Joe Konnected Joe review.

Best Grill Brush and Tools of 2024

Good grill tools are a must and the best grill brush is chief among accessories. That's why we picked Weber 18-Inch Three-Sided Grill Brush as our best overall grill tool. It's robust, strong, and a total steal. At under $20, this workhorse makes properly cleaning and preparing your metal canvas between grilling sessions a breeze. For more recommendations, check out the best grill brushes and tools.

Best Cuts of Steak to Grill

Even if you know your porterhouses from your T-bones, a cow’s eight major primal cuts yield more than 30 different ones, depending on the butcher’s fancy. Which should you grill for your upcoming barbecue? Our guide to the best cuts of steak to grill is the only blueprint you need.

Best Online Steaks

Back in the early 20th century, a new technology allowed cattle raised in the heartland to reach your local butcher shop: refrigerated rail cars. The rise of the mega-supermarket might have shuttered the doors of many neighborhood butchers, but now coolers—packed with often flash-frozen cuts of meat kept cold on dry ice—toted by your favorite delivery guy are bringing the best online steaks right to your front door like the old days, only different. We tapped Porter Road as our best online steak butcher overall for its hyper-local operations, personal service, and guaranteed quality.

Are Indoor Grills a Waste of Time?

It’s a Tuesday night, just before dinner and you don’t feel like dealing with the grill outside. Maybe you don’t have 20 minutes to wait for charcoal to ignite or the grates are gunky. So, you plug in an electric grill inside on the countertop or toss a cast-iron grill pan onto the range and crank it to high. After all, grill marks are grill marks, right? Not really—find out why we argue indoor grills are a waste of time.

Types of Grills We Tested

Charcoal Grills

For those just starting out, or have only ever used a gas (propane or natural gas) grill, it’s always good to pay homage to the basics—the humble kettle charcoal grill. “They're hard to beat,” says Steven Raichlen, master of the backyard barbecue revolution, journalist, lecturer, TV host, and author of 32 books on the subject matter.

You can do all five methods of live-fire cooking on a charcoal kettle grill—direct and indirect grilling, smoking, spit-roasting, and caveman-style right on the embers. “People always ask me, 'What grill would you take on a desert island?' A charcoal kettle grill.”

Gas Grills

Gas grills, are of course, one of the most popular options, especially for those who don’t have the time to mess with setting up a live fire. They're convenient, easy to use and clean, and all-around a great grilling option. “Probably 68 percent of American households have gas grills,” Raichlen says. “It’s convenience in a nutshell. You’ve got push-button ignition and heat control right there at your fingertips.”

It's easier to get a decent sear on a gas grill—compared to charcoal—because of the ability to manage the heat; newer models have stepped up by adding a feature that adds a dedicated, super-high heat infrared sear station. That extra juice can more closely match the crust you get from live-fire grilling, like with charcoal or wood. “Gas grills are good for people who just wanna get there,” he says. “And charcoal grills are for the people who really love the journey—you light the coals, you get to set stuff on fire, which always gladdens my heart, being a latent pyromaniac.” Although an active fire is still the gold standard for grilling a great steak, the new gas grill sear stations can get you closer, with less babysitting.

Pellet Grills

Pellet grills use compressed hardwood pellets that are slowly fed by an auger (a rotating corkscrew-shaped shaft with a metal blade) onto a hot plate that ignites them, creating heat and plenty of smoke.

“Pellet grills are good for smoking at lower temperatures—they're basically wood-fired outdoor ovens and a sort of set-it-and-forget-it grill,” Raichlen says. You get the convenience of a gas grill with easy-to-manage temps and the smoky flavor that comes from a charcoal grill. The trade-off is you don’t get any real options for searing over a live flame.

They're great for chicken and turkey though, especially with the skin on as you can set a timer and leave them alone to get brown and crispy without having to worry about flare ups or burnt skin like on a gas or charcoal grill.

Smokers

Dedicating time to become a real smoker is not something most causal grilling enthusiasts can do. Smoking in a pellet grill, on a charcoal grill, or even inside with an electric smoker gives a ton of great smoky flavor. But to really smoke, you need to do it over charcoal and/or wood in a dedicated smoker. Bob Ahlgren, co-founder of BBQ Pit Boys, the original YouTube grilling channel, knows the worry and heartache smoking can bring: “The first time I smoked, I stayed up all night because every hour I was worried about the temperature going up and down.”

That’s a common experience for newbie and longtime smokers as you have to set up your smoker to hover around 220 to 225 degrees for hours…at least six or seven for a pork butt and up to 12 or 13 for brisket. That’s not something for the faint-hearted or those with little free time to babysit a hunk of meat.

Outdoor Griddles

One of the most popular new kids on the grilling butcher block are griddles, or flat-top grills. It's basically a wide sheet of cast iron or steel set atop burners. The griddle is great for making breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s easy to use, but you won’t get any smoky flavor.

Raichlen is up on the trend. He has a new griddle cookbook coming out soon. “I started my journey to flat tops with a plancha I started using on a charcoal grill. It’s hard to cook pancakes and eggs on a regular grill, and it's hard to cook very delicate, fragile fish on a regular grill. I have one and I use it almost daily, to be honest with you. It's just another tool in the arsenal.”

Pizza Ovens

If you haven’t had the chance to make pizza at home, this is your next outdoor cooking adventure. With the proper dough, it'll come out crispy and slightly charred

But beyond being able to making delicious pizzas worthy of any wood-fired shop in New York or Italy, the latest backyard pizza ovens can also be utilized to cook all sorts of outdoor delicacies. “In Italy, they'll cook a steak in a pizza oven and we like to do whole fish or put lobsters in a skillet with butter in a super-hot pizza oven for five to eight minutes,” says Raichlen. “It's excellent.”

What to Know Before Grilling

The biggest takeaway from this grilling guide, no matter which side of the multi-sided fence you sit on (or even if you embrace all barbecue categories), is you have to get grilling to learn; it's trial by fire. One of the many mistakes novices, and even old hats, make is buying a grill, assembling it, then cooking for family or friends without a trial run. It takes a few tries to figure out the nuances of a new grill, especially if it’s in a new category.

Secondly, don't be afraid to experiment. You don’t have to throw hot dogs and burgers on the grill every time. “The most fun part of grilling is you get to experiment,” says Ahlgren, whose first cookbook, The BBQ Pit Boys Book of Real Guuud Barbecue, is out now. “Don't let anybody tell you there's only one way to do barbecue. Like there are a million ways to die, there are a million ways to barbecue a burger.”

And that experimentation goes for putting unconventional foodstuffs on your grill or smoker. “Bread is exceptional when it's cooked on a grill," Ahlgren says. "I've cooked cherry and apple pies, and even Fireball Whiskey pumpkin pie. It's that little touch of smoke that gets into the crust.”

How We Tested the Best Grills and Accessories

The 2024 Men’s Journal Grilling Awards is our superlative showdown of the best grills, smokers, and tools to level-up backyard barbecues. Our editors and writers leveraged decades of experience grilling, smoking, searing, and roasting to cherry-pick the best workhorses across seven categories over the span of four months. Testers assembled and put their grills to the test, probing for flaws and focusing on highlights, cumulatively smoking, grilling, and griddling over 300 pounds of meat, from briskets and butts to burgers and wings, along with 25 pounds of veggies. What's more, our pizza guru slung over 40 pies out of his rotating cast of outdoor ovens.

We also tested various tools while grilling and smoking, employing instant-read thermometers, Wi-Fi thermometers, and even laser thermometers to make sure the grills were performing to spec. One tester even placed dozens of slices of white bread to make sure his griddles were heating evenly. Meat purveyors, butchers, and barbecue experts were also consulted to lend expert insight on top cuts of steak and where to buy them, among other essential know-how.

Why You Should Trust Us

Here at Men's Journal, there's nothing that binds us together more than tossing a beautiful cut of meat (or nicely ripened vegetable) over a ripping bed of coals, smoky chamber, or flaming-hot grate. Every barbecue method is fair game for us. We don't discriminate or turn our noses down at novel ways to cook. Testing grills is just another weekend at the office for us. Altogether, our team of writers and editors has been chopping wood chunks, lighting fires, tending to meat, and turning knobs for over 100 years. This was a labor of love we hope you enjoy.